THE ELCA VAULT - ROOM 25

The ELCA Vault is a collection of articles, blogs, and documents related to the ELCA. The purpose of the Vault is to provide this important information to it's readers and at the same time not overload other sections of the website so as they become too convoluted.

. . .Not too long ago I was talking with an ELCA pastor about their recent decisions to allow gay clergy and the like. I ask him what his rural Kansas congregation thought about all of that. He said with obvious sadness, that unfortunately many of his people would soon embrace the very same positions as the church body (even though they did not now). . .

. . .Jesus regards what is written in the Old Testament as true and accurate. “Have you never read what David did . . . ?” (Mark 2:25). Jesus regards Adam and Eve and the story of Jonah, Moses, etc., as actual people and events (Matt. 19:4ff.; 19:8). . .

For those who have never heard of “mindfulness,” it is a Buddhist meditation practice that’s emphasized in Zen Buddhism. Many professing Christians are involved in this pagan practice and shouldn’t be. . .

. . .There are many in the Church in our day who deny the reality of many scriptural accounts (Creation, Jonah, the Flood) and yet still claim to live within the narrative of Scripture. They have no trouble ordering their life according to what they call the “epics” of the faith. They say, “Who cares if they they are reality?” . .

. . .Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI) has announced a very significant reduction in both its workforce and its program portfolio for the delivery of essential human services to the people of Illinois. The cuts will eliminate 758 jobs. . .

. . .At a congregational vote in late October, faced with declining membership and attendance and a relatable decrease in stewardship and missional support, the decision was made to close its doors permanently.

. . .Furthermore, in most mainline churches, the outreach mission programs that do exist are little more than social programs wrapped in the heretical doctrine of universalism. This false doctrine maintains that one religion is as good as another, and that there is no need to evangelize because people of all religions, including people with no religion, will reach heaven’s shores regardless of faith or belief. . .

. . .The lawsuit says when the Grabanskis made their views known, they were subjected to "public ridicule, scorn, intimidation, isolation" by the church leadership, and were told the congregation was too liberal for them. . .

. . .anti-Muslim hate crimes intensify, prominent politicians support proposals advocating for mosque closings, registration programs, internment camps, and halting refugee resettlement...We repudiate the hostility and hatred aimed at Muslims in and beyond our community. We pledge to challenge Islamophobia whenever and wherever it occurs, to foster relationships with Muslims based on friendship and not fear

. . .Eldred also teaches seventh- and eighth-grade confirmation classes Wednesday evenings, while Bray teaches the ninth grade...Eldred and his husband,.. married in August 2013 at their home church, . .

Though they are officially “non-profit” organizations, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services, and several other Christian organizations are profiting from lucrative contracts with the federal government to resettle refugees in the United States. . .

They are scholars. Seven current Proclaim seminarians are recipients of a merit-based full tuition ELCA Fund for Leaders Scholarship and several others were awarded partial Fund for Leaders scholarships. . .

. . .is it also your experience in the ELCA that those being bullied, discriminated against, and marginalized these days are not the LGBTQ community but those holding to a traditional view of the Bible, theology, and human sexuality? . .

. . .There’s also this: According to official data from the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center for Fiscal Year 2015, resettled Syrian refugees were 97% Muslim. The Hudson Institute’s Nina Shea, in a November 2 article in National Review, showed that in the past five years only 53 of 2003 Syrian refugees accepted by the United States have been Christians (only about 2.5% of the total). . .

. . .Both of us were confused, wondering whether we should continue to embrace our lesbian identity with abandon, give it up for our faith, or try to have it both ways by twisting the Scriptures and suppressing the voice of conscience. . .

. . .Nine other faculty positions were originally recommended by Brian Ernsting, Dean of Faculty, in consultation with the Faculty Council to be cut. Those further cuts will be considered along with possible staff reductions later. . .

. . .These organizations long for a perfect world where there is no suffering and we all live in harmony. And toward that end, they are blind to the fact that we will lose any sense of “dignity,” “respect,” “justice,” “fairness,” and “safety” by admitting more and more people who hate us and who embrace a totalitarian ideology that mandates world domination. These charities, with their lock on big grants and a steady stream of money, are facilitating immigration jihad (hijra). . .

. . .Halloween is not quite over, at least for some of those who use the day to take shots at Catholics. There is nothing obscene about dressing up dogs in clerical and nun garb, but it is still meant to ridicule Catholics. When the pictures are still up on Facebook several days after Halloween, on the page of a Lutheran bishop, it makes us wonder whether there is more than ridicule at work. . .

. . .During my years in the ELCA, I found that making the good confession was a lonely business. I tried to do my duty and warn my congregations of what was happening. On one hand, they thanked me for standing up for what they, too, believed. But on the other, they refused to act on what I was telling them, or to fight back. . .

. . .this should come as no surprise from a college that invited a transgender speaker to give the daily chapel message during National Coming Out Week over six years ago and that celebrates and affirms such behavior without even an acknowledgment that they are departing from a biblical understanding of sexuality. . .

Kindred Man Says Church Pushing Out Conservatives

. . .added services including Dancorcism — where parishioners and outsiders “dance out their demons” — and Sound Church — where people gather under the church’s reverberating high ceilings to make sounds like meditative “ohms,” chants, and songs. . .

. . . why it’s acceptable for St. Olaf to employ teaching faculty who don’t have a master’s degree, while insisting that high school faculty who teach college-level courses earn these degrees. St. Olaf also has one of Minnesota’s least accepting policies toward credit for Advanced Placement, Postsecondary Enrollment Options, and College in the Schools. Many institutions grant up to two years of credit; St. Olaf grants less than a year. . .

. . .Americans view on gay marriage changed, for the most part, because of the decline in Biblical belief and the normalization of homosexuality brought into our homes through the entertainment we watch. . .

. . .When tracking changes to gauge the overall health of a denomination, it makes more sense to look at long-term trends. If we look back 50 years (to 1965) we can see a clear and unequivocal trendline: liberal denominations have declined sharply while conservative denominations have increased or remained the same. . .

​​Interview with Pastor Steve Berntson Who Recently Resigned From His ELCA Church

. . .We ask you to categorically reject this type of bigotry and state on the record that it is incompatible with this country’s founding principles. Further, we ask you to speak out publicly against those in your parties who promote anti-Muslim bigotry or any other rhetoric that seeks to divide Americans based on how we look or how we pray.. . .

Yes, the ELCA does teach and believe in universalism. Many ELCA leaders are believers in universalism. Many ELCA seminary professors are teachers of universalism. The ELCA publishes articles supportive of universalism. . .

. . .The fact that private contractors – such as Lutheran Social Services, the International Rescue Committee, World Relief and Catholic Charities – are doing the government’s work means that critical facts and figures are not available to the public through the Freedom of Information Act. . .